This paper gives a synopsis on the past, present and future of Health Information Exchange (HIE) in Tennessee (TN).
In TN, the concept of HIE was conceived on June 7, 2010 (TNOeHI, 2012). This was after Office of eHealth Initiatives (OeHI), Department of Finance and Administration, the State of TN and the State HIE program submitted Operational Plans (SOP) and the TN HIE to Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) (TNOeHI, 2012). The submitted plan spelt out TN’s roadmap for Implementing HIE. It showed how the HIE network connects various organizations to each, to the national gateways, as well as, other enterprises. Two months later after its inception, the State of TN submitted an addendum to the plan that had been submitted earlier in response to program information notice that highlighted a landscape and gap analysis. Consequently, the SOP was approved by the ONC on September 12, 2010. On May 8, 2012, the State of TN also submitted an updated version of the SOP in response to a second program information notice (TNOeHI, 2012).
The current mission is the same as that which was drafted at the time of the SOS’s inception. Using this plan, TN endeavors to have a robust health ecosystem that will not only improve and empower patients, but also enhance the access to the state’s healthcare system and information in a timely manner. While in the beginning the SOP, there were two regional health information organizations that connected together through a concise layer of core services executed by the State’s HIE. Owing to national and localchanges, it has been realized that there is no need for networks. The state has resulted to more direct approaches that still envisage the original mission (TNOeHI, 2012).
The State’s mission and objectives are flexible and adaptable to change. This is because the national and state health policies are not static, but they keep on changing.
Reference
TNOeHI (2012). The State of Tennessee Strategic and Operational Plan for Health Information Exchange. Retrieved on 2 March 2014 from http://tn.gov/ehealth/forms/hie_strategic_plan.pdf
